February 28, 2005
Texas A&M Head Football Coach Dennis Franchione and the Aggie football squad will host the third annual "Night of Champions", a weightlifting exhibition, which will be held Tuesday, Mar. 1 on the main floor of G. Rollie White Coliseum. The event will start at 7 p.m. and should last approximately ninety minutes.
"Because of the tremendous fan support from the 12th Man, our Night of Champions has been outstanding and I look forward to seeing a great crowd on Tuesday," Coach Fran said. "The crowd involvement really helps our players with their maximum lifts."
The exhibition event features max testing in three lifts: bench press, squat, and clean. In addition, a couple of players will be tested in the vertical jump and much like the NFL combine a 225-pound bench for maximum number of reps will be displayed. The basketball dunk competition will be held for the second consecutive year.
Competitors in the bench press are: senior offensive lineman Aldo De La Garza; sophomore defensive lineman Chris Harrington; redshirt freshman defensive lineman William Morrisey; junior defensive lineman Bryce Reed; redshirt freshman defensive lineman Chris Smith; and new juco transfer defensive lineman Henry Smith.
Competitors in the squat are: senior defensive back Jaxson Appel; redshirt freshman offensive lineman Yemi Babalola; redshirt freshman tight end Kevin Bryan; senior defensive lineman Johnny Jolly; redshirt freshman running back Jay Lucas; redshirt freshman quarterback Stephen McGee; redshirt freshman defensive lineman Cyril Obiozor; and sophomore offensive lineman Chris Yoder.
Competitors in the clean are: sophomore defensive lineman Red Bryant; sophomore offensive lineman Corey Clark; redshirt freshman tight end Amos Gbunblee; sophomore linebacker Nathan Haile; redshirt freshman linebacker Nick La Mantia; junior defensive back Brandon Leone; senior linebacker Archie McDaniel; senior offensive lineman John David Nicholson; and junior offensive lineman J Pond.
Trey Brooks, a senior defensive back, Renuel "Tay" Greene, a senior linebacker, DeQawn Mobley, a senior wide receiver, and redshirt freshman running back Samson Taylor will compete in the vertical jump.
De La Garza, Reed and senior offensive lineman John R. Kirk will compete in the 225-pound bench maximum number of reps.
Competing in the dunk competition will be senior wide receiver Jason Carter; senior quarterback Michael Corey; senior defensive lineman Johnny Jolly, and senior wide receiver L'Tydrick Riley. Riley's uncle is none other than Claude Riley, the "Crockett Rocket", who played for the Aggies' NCAA Sweet 16 basketball team under Coach Shelby Metcalf.
"Our strength and conditioning coaches, Ben Pollard and Rick LaFavers, selected the players based on the results from our off-season workouts," Fran said. "It is an honor to be selected. The rest of the team will be on hand to yell encouragement and it is one of our best team-building exercises."
The event is free of charge and seating is located in the stands above the main floor at G. Rollie White. Parking is available for a cost in the University Center parking garage across the street from G. Rollie White and also at the West Campus parking garage.